macOS Mojave 'ruby/config.h' file not found - ruby

Question

When I try to build vim(8.1.0509) with ruby support(--enable-rubyinterp) on macOS Mojave(10.14.1) I get error:
In file included from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.3/usr/include/ruby-2.3.0/ruby.h:33:
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.3/usr/include/ruby-2.3.0/ruby/ruby.h:24:10: fatal error:
'ruby/config.h' file not found
#include "ruby/config.h"
I have installed Xcode 10.1.
xcode-select -p
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Answer 1

Note: this workaround works, but you can't just copy/paste paths blindly. Instead, look at the error installation gave you. It will say something like
To see why this extension failed to compile, please check the mkmf.log which can be found here:
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/extensions/universal-darwin-21/2.6.0/ffi-1.15.5/mkmf.log
So open the log it mentions, and see what it can't find. It will tell you the correct versions of MacOSX__._.sdk and universal-darwin-__ you need to link
Catalina, Big Sur, etc. (As of 2020, 2021, and 2022)
UPDATE: This workaround still works as of 2022. For the commands below, please change version string (e.g., 11.1, ruby 2.6, universal-darwin20, etc.) accordingly to your macOS version environment.
Recent versions of macOS and Xcode (e.g. Catalina 10.15 and Xcode 12.2) have this broken. Reinstalling Xcode and xcode-select --install did not help for me at all (the solutions already posted seem to be outdated). I did not want to use rvm because it may cause some annoying problems.
I did a workaround by manually making a symbolic link:
cd /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX11.1.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0/ruby
ln -sf ../../../../Headers/ruby/config.h
where ruby/config.h can be found at:
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX11.1.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/Headers/ruby/config.h.
You should change SDK versions (e.g. 11.1 in the above example) accordingly to your current xcode installation.
It is also very likely that one runs into another error where .../universal-darwin19/ruby/config.h cannot be found (Commonmarker gem cannot be installed (needed for jekyll) macos). It can be quick-fixed as follows:
cd /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX11.1.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0
ln -sf universal-darwin20 universal-darwin19
If after using this workaround, you get a crash on pod install like:
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/gems/ffi-1.15.5/lib/ffi/library.rb:275: [BUG] Bus Error at 0x0000000100f38000
follow this solution

Answer 2

macOS Catalina
Issue reappeared in Catalina and I wasn't able to spot this package in the Developer SDK. Until better solution found, I was able to workaround this with rubyenv: https://github.com/orta/cocoapods-keys/issues/198#issuecomment-510909030
brew install rbenv ruby-build
echo 'if which rbenv > /dev/null; then eval "$(rbenv init -)"; fi' >> ~/.bash_profile
rbenv install 2.6.3
rbenv global 2.6.3
Mojave and older
This answer helped me: https://stackoverflow.com/a/53194299/2105993
xcode-select --install
open /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages/macOS_SDK_headers_for_macOS_10.14.pkg

Answer 3

On macOS Catalina
After installing and uninstalling the developer tools multiple times, this is the only thing that worked for me:
First install the Ruby Version Manager rvm:
curl -L https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable
Then install the latest version of ruby:
rvm install ruby-2.7.2
Finally try again to install the cocoapods:
sudo gem install cocoapods
(from this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/65033418/3605761)
edit: may need rvm reinstall ruby-2.7.2 instead of rvm install ruby-2.7.2 at step 2.
edit2: #greg-dubicki mentioned swapping ruby-2.7.2 for ruby-3.0.3: rvm install ruby-3.0.3 and then making it the default: rvm --default use 3.0.3 they also mentioned: As an extra benefit, thanks to the switch from the outdated system Ruby 2 to a current version 3, you will get up to 3 x better performance.

Answer 4

I had the exact same problem. Could not install gems with native extensions. Running
$ open /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages/macOS_SDK_headers_for_macOS_10.14.pkg
failed, because the file did not exist. Looks like Mojave can break the commandline tools.
I fixed it by removing the Xcode commandline tools, installing them again and then installing the missing headers:
$ sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
$ xcode-select --install
$ open /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages/macOS_SDK_headers_for_macOS_10.14.pkg

Answer 5

If you are facing this issue in Mac Big Sur, reinstalling CommandLineTools can fix this issue.
sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
xcode-select --install

Answer 6

This is because some versions of Xcode don't have the macOS SDK for the OS it's running on, when compiling native extension of gem.
make sure Xcode version and macOS version match each other:
macOS 10.15: Xcode < 12.2
macOS 11: Xcode >= 12.2, <= 13.0
macOS 12: Xcode >= 13.1, <= 14.0
macOS 13: Xcode >= 14.1

Answer 7

On macOS Catalina
If multiple versions of xcode are installed,xcode12/xcode12.4 etc.Please try to change your xcode command line tools in xcode preferences. It may works!!!

Answer 8

I tried all of the above and I eventually got it working with this little 'gem', pardon the pun.
sudo gem install -n /usr/local/bin cocoapods -v 1.8.4
From https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/668456

Answer 9

2021 Advice
If you are able, updating to macOS Big Sur and then updating Xcode will also fix the issue.
Just tested on updating 10.15 -> 11.2.3 for macOS.
And 12.4 for Xcode.

Answer 10

MacOS Big Sur Beta 8
try this:
install rbenv
git clone https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv.git ~/.rbenv
cd ~/.rbenv && src/configure && make -C src
Add ~/.rbenv/bin to your $PATH for access to the rbenv command-line utility.
see: https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv#basic-github-checkout
make sure export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/shims:${PATH}" was added to your $PATH
xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Develope
gem install cocoapods should work like a charm!

Answer 11

for me it worked "rvm install ruby" (not with brew) and then doing steps from here:
$ sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
$ xcode-select --install
and then
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/opt/ruby/lib/pkgconfig"
After all this, it worked.

Answer 12

I did the similar things to Jongwook Choi with the following environment and problem as a case reference.
I am using macOS 12.6.2.
The problem arises when I try to install cocoapods by running sudo gem install cocoapods.
After reading the suggested logs in the terminal feedback and reading the source code it is referring to, it is obviously a bug of the builtin files in macOS 12.6.2.
In my case, I do the followings and the cocoapods can be installed successfully.
Original error
In file included from /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX13.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0/ruby.h:33:
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX13.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0/ruby/ruby.h:24:10: fatal error: 'ruby/config.h' file not found
Action 1
The file `config.h` is missing. So I build the symbolink in the folder
cd /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX13.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0/ruby/
sudo ln -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0/universal-darwin22/ruby/config.h
The second one is referring to a folder called universal-darwin21.
However, I try to use uname -r and got 21.6 so I think it is obviously does not hurt to create a symbolink of "universal-darwin21" to resolve the problem.
Original error
make: *** No rule to make target `/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX13.0.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0/universal-darwin21/ruby/config.h', needed by `AbstractMemory.o'. Stop.
Action 2
cd /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0
sudo ln -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0/universal-darwin22 universal-darwin21
After that, the installation runs successfully.
However, if reading the log file
/Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0/extensions/universal-darwin-21/2.6.0/ffi-1.15.5/gem_make.out
It is still outing some warnings, if study those warnings, will find missing folders which is obviously missing and is the problem of the system files/folders rather than anything wrong with the user actions.

Answer 13

My problem was different from - Yosemite upgrade broke ruby.h
As you can see in the description of the problem it's System's ruby, not Xcode's ruby so reinstall Xcode or symlink didn't help here.
Answer:
I have reinstalled macOS Mojave without losing any data and this fixed the problem.

Answer 14

I had a similar problem installing eventmachine 1.2.7, this worked for me (macOS 10.15.5):
(I use fish)
brew install ruby
Add the following ~/.config/fish/config.fish (without fish, just add these to path)
fish_add_path /usr/local/opt/ruby/bin
fish_add_path /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/3.0.0/bin
set -gx CPPFLAGS "-I/usr/local/opt/ruby/include"
set -gx LDFLAGS "-L/usr/local/opt/ruby/lib"
set -gx PKG_CONFIG_PATH "/usr/local/opt/ruby/lib/pkgconfig"
sudo gem install eventmachine -v '1.2.7' --source 'https://rubygems.org/'
The set -gx commands I got after installing ruby thru brew.
I tried reinstalling the Xcode tools (12.3 as I can't upgrade to Big Sur just yet) and re-accepting agreement, but that didn't change anything
One note is that this was from installing eventmachine 1.2.7. The log error I got referenced this path as one of its flags:
-I/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX11.1.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include/ruby-2.6.0 -I
Note that it was trying to look in .../MacOSX11.1.sdk/..., but I have 10.15.5. Even setting CPPFLAGS, LDFLAGS, PKG_CONFIG_PATH manually did not work as I was using either system ruby or whatever rbenv had, but I was too frustrated to dig deeper down that particular rabbit hole. So, I reinstalled w/ brew's ruby!

Answer 15

If you're getting this error as part of bundle install, see below -
I couldn't get any of the posted solutions to work. What worked for me was installing the specified bundler version from the logs. For example, my Console was warning me about mismatching bundler version and I ran gem install bundler:2.2.32 to fix it which then fixed the bundle install command for me. In my case, i was using rvm and ruby version 3.0.0.

Answer 16

I ran into this after uninstalling an older version of Xcode. Typically, I install into /Applications/Xcode-13.2.1.app for example. However, xcode-select -p still showed it was pointing to an older version.
I just ran sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-13.2.1.app and everything started working correctly again.

Answer 17

I cannot find this mentioned above, and I'm not sure if that's a universal solution. Mentioning this as this may be still useful.
At least with Xcode 14/macOS 13/12, it's possible to use stock Ruby, without messing up with symlinks, provided that macOS command line tools package is installed on the host. The thing is that command line tools package bundles SDKs for most recent versions of macOS, and most notably, the one matching the host (from what I can see, that SDK has the "correct" name for the directory containing ruby/config.h). Then it's just a matter of overriding SDKROOT in the environment (this is the most crucial thing), to point all the low-level tools like clang to the custom root matching the "correct" version of SDK. (Without override, it would still use the default SDK bundled with the tools, that may or not match the version of macOS running on the host).
macos_major_vers=$(sw_vers -productVersion | sed 's/^\([^.]*\)\..*$/\1/') # e.g. 12
export SDKROOT=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX"$macos_major_vers".sdk
# ... build commands for Ruby gems go here.

Answer 18

I'm using rbenv (on Catalina) and none of the solutions I found here (or elsewhere) worked for me. Ultimately what fixed my environment was pointing rbenv global to a specific version of ruby instead of system:
$ rbenv global 2.6.3
This was the state of my env while gem install was failing:
$ gem env home
=> /Users/ryanc/.gem
$ which gem
=> /Users/ryanc/.rbenv/shims/gem
$ which ruby
=> /Users/ryanc/.rbenv/shims/ruby
$ ruby -v
=> ruby 2.6.3p62 (2019-04-16 revision 67580) [universal.x86_64-darwin19]
$ rbenv local
=> rbenv: no local version configured for this directory
$ rbenv global
=> system
$ rbenv which ruby
=> /usr/bin/ruby
The result of rbenv which ruby was the key. I decided to run rbenv global 2.6.3 and suddenly I could install gems again. Here's the new state of things:
$ ruby -v
=> ruby 2.6.3p62 (2019-04-16 revision 67580) [x86_64-darwin19]
$ rbenv global
=> 2.6.3
$ rbenv which ruby
=> /Users/ryanc/.rbenv/versions/2.6.3/bin/ruby

Answer 19

In my case (Catalina 10.15.7) simply re-installying ruby with homebrew fixed it. No need to install rvm or rubyenv.

Answer 20

it's about your ruby version or bad installation.
you can install new ruby version with rvm
first install rvm with bellow command
curl -L https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable
then close and reopen terminal or use command source [you mac bash file like .zshrc or .bashrrc] to load rvm command
next install new ruby version with bellow command
rvm install ruby-2.7.2
now you should use new version of ruby and install last version of cocoapods
do this steps:
check ruby version
check ruby version with ruby -v command
if your ruby version not 2.7.2 use 'rvm use 2.7.2' command to switch
on new ruby
then install cocoapods with 'sudo gem install cocoapods' command
for check new pods version use 'gem which cocoapods' command.

Answer 21

This is not cocoa pod issue, It is related to the older version of ruby.
Simply follow the below steps :
rvm install "ruby-3.0.0"
sudo gem install cocoapods

Answer 22

I'm encountered with the same problem a moment ago, and the following works for me.
brew install rbenv
# To get the latest stable version of ruby
rbenv install --list
# 3.1.1 is the latest version
rbenv install 3.1.1 && rbenv global 3.1.1
Do as installation tips of the previous step:
vim ~/.zhrc and append eval "$(rbenv init - zsh)"; finally, restart your term to make the line take effect.
I prefers not to make change under /Applications/Xcode.app since everything done will be lost after upgrading Xcode.
By the way, rbenv install --list tells all stable versions of ruby, and I choose the latest. You could try earlier ruby version that works for you.